City of Lost Girls
Summary:
There’s a killer on the loose.
He kills the lost girls.
And he always kills in threes…
Larger than life Irish-born Hollywood director Jack Donovan and Ed Loy go way back. In Hollywood in the nineties, Loy used to kiss Jack Donovan’s girls goodbye and pay them to go away. Until one day, he saw something he couldn’t forgive, something that made Loy steer clear of Donovan for years.
Now Jack is back, shooting a movie on the streets of Dublin, and uneasy about the sinister anonymous letters he’s been receiving.[from http://www.declanhughesbooks.com/lost-girls.php]
Group Review:
7 thumbs up
8 thumbs down
The most positive comments overall were about the main character, Ed Loy.
Point of view:
About an equal number of people liked or disliked getting into the head of the murderer. Those who didn’t like having the additional perspective had various reasons, but there were a couple readers who felt it was a crutch; too much “tell” and not enough “show.” Other comments were that is was just “creepy.” Some reviewers felt that it was unnecessary; it didn’t give any real motive other than the killer was insane. We wanted to know why the killer saw the world the way he did.
Portrayal of women:
A number of readers were displeased with how women characters were portrayed. The women were all victims; not just the “lost girls” but the ex-wife, the girlfriend, etc. Even Anne, who we got to see from her perspective, came across as whiny and hysterical. One person put it simply, “there were too many dead girls.”
Thumbs down:
Those who gave a thumbs down said the book was too wordy, it was slow going, and there was too much back story. The back story didn’t really add anything and often got in the way of the present day happenings. One person mentioned that the change in point of view was disruptive to the flow.
The male characters, with the exception of Ed and Jack, were not well distinguished and a number of readers couldn’t keep track of who was who in the “gang of four.”
Thumbs up:
The positive comments included a liking of the prose, excellent scene setting in L.A. and a good scattering of clues throughout.
[spoiler alert]
Most readers, whether “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” liked Ed Loy enough to persevere through the end. And most of us really liked the “shaggy dog” part of the ending –Ed survives the attempt on his life because the bad guy stole his car!